Ask Me If I’m Okay

Ask me if I’m okay
It’s my biggest lie
Ask me if I’m okay
Yes I will reply
Ask me if I’m okay
These tears don’t mean a thing
Ask me if I'm okay
Do you see the pain in my eyes?
Ask me if I’m okay
I’m lying through my teeth
Ask me if I'm okay
Do you know what I feel inside?
Ask me if I’m okay
What does it matter anyway
Ask me if I’m okay
Whoops I lied again
Ask me if I'm okay
But see the blood drip down my wrists
Ask me if I’m okay
You don’t really care
Ask me if I’m okay
I will smile and nod my head
Ask me if I’m okay
I will lie until the end
Ask me if I’m okay
Why do you need to know
Ask me if I’m okay
The answer still hasn’t changed
Ask me if I'm okay
Tell me, would you be okay if you went through this?
Ask me if I’m okay
Go ahead ask again
Ask me if I’m okay
It doesn’t mean anything

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Editor’s Note

The number one question our editors receive is—what do the editors and judges look for when judging the contest? The number one answer we give is creativity. Unlike prose, writing composed in everyday language, poetry is considered a creative art and requires a different type of effort and a certain level of depth. Of the thousands of poems entered in each contest, the ones that catch our judges’ eyes are the ones that remove us, even just slightly, from the scope of everyday life by using language that is interesting, specific, vivid, obscure, compelling, figurative, and so on. Oftentimes, poems are pulled aside for a second look based simply on certain words that intrigued the reader. So first and foremost, be sure your poetry is written using creative language. Take general ideas and make them personal. In his infamous book De/Compositions: 101 Good Poems Gone Wrong, W. D. Snodgrass imparts, “We cannot honestly discuss or represent our lives, any more than our poems, without using ideational language.”